‘Meyer'zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) has been the predominant cultivar used in the transition zone since its release in 1952 because of its excellent freezing tolerant. However, it is slow to establish and recover from injury and is coarser in texture than zoysiagrass cultivars adapted to warmer climates. This study was initiated to screen zoysiagrass progeny than resulted from crosses among 17 parental lines at Texas A and M University. On 16 August, 2004, 8-cm diam. plugs of 378 hybrid zoysiagrasses were planted at the Rocky Ford Turfgrass Center at Kansas State university, Manhattan, KS (39°18' N, 96°57' W). Temperatures were recorded using dual-probe sensors at the soil surface and at a 2-cm depth from 3 December, 2004 to 1 April, 2005. Lowest temperature recorded at the soil surface was –15°C, whereas that at a 2-cm depth was -7°C. Less than half of the progeny exhibited regrowth when evaluated on 29 March, 2005. Seventy-five progeny were selected on 18 May, 2005 based upon good spring green up, rapid lateral spread, and/or fine leaf texture. More than half of the 75 selected progeny resulted from crosses between ‘Chinese Common' and ‘Meyer' or ‘Chinese Common' and ‘Cavalier'. Freezing tolerance of the most promising lines will be compared to ‘Meyer' in a controlled environment after two years of field screening.
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